In a newly published report on “Global Alcohol, Tobacco, Cannabis, and Cocaine Use” from the World Health Organization’s series of Mental Health Surveys, Americans’ levels of cocaine and marijuana use were highest among the 17 countries on six different continents surveyed. Researchers found that 16.2% of U.S. survey respondents had at least tried cocaine in their lifetime; New Zealanders were next at 4.3%. Kiwis caught up with their American counterparts in cannabis use, however: in both countries, 42% of the population sample had tried marijuana.
According to the report, global drug use “is not distributed evenly and is not simply related to drug policy, since countries with stringent user-level illegal drug policies did not have lower levels of use than countries with liberal ones.” For example, in the Netherlands, a country whose drug policies are quite liberal compared to those in the U.S., only 19.8% of people reported cannabis use and a mere 1.9% had tried cocaine.
Researchers did find sex differences — males were more likely to have used drugs than females — but the gap appears to be closing.
These results are nothing to sneeze at, considering the hefty sample size of 85,052 people. Still, the 16% rate of cocaine use sounds awfully high to me, although the latest (2006) results from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health name a rate of 14.3% for lifetime use across all ages.
All this makes me wonder: what might contribute to such high rates of drug use in the U.S., if drug policies are not necessarily a factor? Is it a question of “forbidden fruit”, perhaps, where overly stringent drug policies somehow make drugs more attractive?
What do you think?
For more information: The Of Two Minds blog has a good post up summarizing the main findings, as does eurekalert.org; read the entire study here.
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2 Comments to
“W.H.O. Global Drug Survey Finds High Rates of Cocaine, Marijuana Use in U.S.”
Don’t mean any disrespect, but you’re kidding me, right? American citizens are constantly bombarded with ads for drugs that will cure your sexual dysfunction and place a permanent smile on your face and make you the object of desire or jealousy. We are told to cure our constipation not by diet and exercise but by using fiber supplements and such. Can’t sleep, take a sleeping pill. these are just a few examples as there are hundreds. And Americans are crazy about their alcohol. And alcohol is a drug and is the on most abused and dangerous.
I have learned to avoid a reductionist approach in matters related to substances of abuse. I find that a public health model that views substance use in terms of agent, host, and environment to be helpful. However, even the use of this model is overly reductionist. Associated with the reductionist approach are drug policies that are harmful rather than helpful.
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Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 30 Jun 2008
